1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer enclosure, and particularly to a computer enclosure having a latched hood slidably and removably attached thereto.
2. Related Art
A conventional computer enclosure is generally comprised of a chassis, a hood and a bezel. The chassis is used to hold motherboards, interface cards, a power supply and disk drives. The chassis is generally U-shaped, and comprises a base, a front panel and a rear panel. The hood is also U-shaped and has a top panel and two opposite side panels depending from the top panel. The hood is slidingly attached to the chassis along rails formed on opposite sides of the chassis, and then secured to the rear panel by screws. Finally, the bezel is mounted on the front panel of the chassis.
Securing the hood to the rear panel with screws is unduly complicated and time-consuming. Furthermore, it is difficult to simultaneously align both side edges of the hood with the respective rails of the chassis.
Anther kind of conventional hood is secured to a chassis by means of engagement of locking barbs of the hood with slots of the chassis.
However, disengaging this hood from the chassis is complicated and laborious.
The above related art includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,159,528, 5,164,886, 5,271,152, and 5,491,611.
It is strongly desired to provide an enclosure for a computer system which overcomes the above problems encountered in the prior art.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a computer enclosure which has a hood readily attached to and detached from the enclosure.
To achieve the above-mentioned object, an enclosure for a computer system in accordance with the present invention comprises a chassis, a hood, a handle and a latch attaching the hood to the chassis. A support bracket is secured in the chassis, and defines a plurality of slots therein. The hood defines a recess, an opening below the recess, and two apertures below the recess at one side of the opening. The handle is slidably received in the recess. A protrusion of the handle extends through the opening of the hood. The handle has two hollow cylinders extending through the apertures of the hood. The latch defines two through holes for extension of two screws therethrough to engage with the cylinders, thus allowing the handle to operate the latch. The latch has a plurality of hooks corresponding to the slots of the support bracket. When the latch is in a first position, the hooks are engaged with the slots. When the latch is moved to a second position, the hooks are released from the slots, whereupon the hood is easily removed from the chassis.